Climate and drought concerns.

dcsteg(5 Shawnee, KS.)June 7, 2012

Rose rosette, a rose killing virus, is spreading through Kansas City killing all roses. There is no cure. Many old time park rose gardens are now history.

This weather is so weird. The warm winter has created a host of pests and garden diseases. No appreciable rain here in over a year. I am talking about less then 3" of snow last winter. If this drought continues I might have to let this garden go. $200.00-$300.00 water bills every pay period are not in my budget.

Let's hope this thing turns around soon. No rain forecast here for the time being.

I have a feeling it will be a tough year. Hope things hang on for you and many others! We don't pay for our well water, but that doesn't mean we can use as much as we want. Selective watering will be the ticket, that and catching rainfall when it does occur.

Even though I am conservative with the environment and believe in global warming I don't get too excited about every disease or bug which comes through.

Some of the exotic pests can really get the jump on a species but I THINK in the end if xyz disease kills 90% of the population of some species then the remaining 10% pass on their more resistant genes.

Now throw in our fu fu cultivars bred for the biggest and most colorful instead of strongest and fastest and you know what will die first.

Putting everything on drip finally solved some of my same issues....using too much water and yet still not getting the deep roots watered well.

Fortunately the drought dome has shifted a little and the horrible last 18 months or so we suffered through has gotten much better the last several months. We've had an actual spring for the first time in years and we've been getting a decent bit of rain on and off now for weeks. Forecast for the next week is only in the high 80's. It doesn't get much better than this for us. So hopefully our extreme climate issues are taking a year off and my gardens will be able to relax a little bit.

Then if our young Thunder win the NBA title it will be even better :-)

I have seen a LOT of green, yellow, and red on the radar this spring in west/central OK this spring Tex. Even the past week or so it has rained nearly every day in some part of that area. We have been very dry just across the border in AR this spring after a good rain in late March but we got a solid rain Monday and next week is looking good for another round of rain. We are officially in a moderate drought now, though. After watering all summer(s) long trying to establish so many plants the past 2 summers, I don't know if I'm game for 3 in a row. It would sure be nice if ma nature helped me out with some rain this summer.

And THUNDER UP!

John

ps - Dave, I know you have a very nice collection. Good luck to you with rain this year! If you don't already, maybe you could invest in a drip system and water storage barrels that hook up to your gutter system

30 day rainfall was 1.1" in increments between 0.15 and 0.3. I don't count the recordings of 0.07 or less...please, why do they even record that?

The ground is solid and the grass is about to go dormant. The humidity has been consistenly in the 30s. Couple that with a few hot days here and there, some wind and more wind and its a PITA.

I'll be do a full watering run (takes about 4.5 hours) for a third time this year. Usually I don't have to start secondary watering until June, even for plants that aren't estalished yet.

As Dave, eluded to, I'm not enjoying gardening right now. When your family starts yelling at you for the time spent watering its hard not to be defeated this early in the season. Throw in the plant deaths from the April freezes...just dandy.

The 10 day forecast is looking pretty lame. 40 day total might be 1.1" as well.

Whaas, I'm surprised to hear that your area has been that dry. I think you're in S.E. WI somewhere, right? There have been times when it seems all the rain has been down your way. Apparently not. It is very dry here as well, but we had four and a half inches in May, all told.

I can take heat, cold, being out in rain, snow, or what have you. But I hate drought. It's not that it does something to me personally. I just hate what it does to plant life.

The total for May was 3.2 with 2 inches coming fast and furious in .5" increments the 1st week of May. There is this mysterious recording of 0.36" at the end of May that never took place at my location.

It went dry starting 5/7. I have rocky sandy soil so it dries quick around here!

We have had 4.17" of rain since January. We have had upper 90's many days. We have had many days with wind blowing over 30mph. Last year I think we finished the year with maybe 12 total inches. The only thing I have had a little problem with is a Pinus strobus Extra Blue, and 2 parviflora. Most of my stuff is looking pretty good though. Dave, you must have one big area, because I water too and my bills are only around $45 a month.

Pretty dry here, too - Hardly any speakable rain for the past 3 weeks! Highly unusual for June around here - The summer is supposed to be our wettest season! Actually, most of the seedling trees (Quite a few evergreens, too) I planted have done well - I've been giving them the recommended 5 gallons per inch of trunk diameter per week as long as it's dry (Can't remember where I read that), mostly using creek water. Luckily, we have plenty of ground water for wells around here - our soil is clay and silt piled on top of sand and gravel, and the sand layer has a ton of water in it.

As far as climate goes, I think plants have more adaptive potential than we give them credit - as long as things don't go too crazy. I've got a few seedling Red spruce (Picea rubens), which is not supposed to be a very environmentally tolerant tree - They've taken 3 years of unusually warm summers so far! I know there are easier things to grow, but I'd wager to say I'm the only one in the state trying to grow Red spruce - Anything to be different!

Our third major wildfire in as many weeks popped up near Ft. Collins yesterday. It went from 2 to 5,000 acres burning in 5 hours. The smoke plume is being carried hundreds of miles with the winds we've been having. May, typically our wettest month, brought only about an inch of precip. They are now categorizing us in severe drought. It's a tinderbox here.

I am running ditch water with a sump pump. I prime it in the morning, then unplug the pump and let it trickle all day, moving the hose every hour or so. I think I've lost 5 conifers and a couple of deciduous trees, all planted in April. I kept about 20 conifers potted for fall planting and I'm glad I did. It looks to be a tough summer.

Resin, here's hoping the drought statement will bring us a good July monsoon!

Its been very hot and dry around southwest WI where I live. The Mississippi River was near flood stage this past week, but that was caused by heavy rains north of Minneapolis. Need rain badly. I've been watering all my trees about every other day in this sand box soil that I have.

The climate is changing and man is the cause. No "belief" is required or even asked. We can choose to accept the evidence or reject it. With semantics out of the way....

No one can say with certianty if any of our individual gardening areas / microclimates will change so drastically within our lifetime that the plants we most enjoy won't make it. In my own example, the best models and averages of models say that within my lifetime, we'll be around average rainfall, but it will be significantly warmer (+2C is pretty much a lock). So I'm planting for heavy shade and lots of woody plants to try to slow the run-off of our rainstorms. (Everyone elses' treeless lots just shed water (and nitrogen slop)).

So we've got a choice, garden and plant with an eye toward the hardy, or enjoy the rewards that come with the sacrifice (time and money) of keeping things alive in spite of the weather (and over a decade or two, the climate).

Yes, pretty dry here in the N.W. 'burbs of Detroit, although there have been better rains north of us around Flint and Saginaw, and south along the Michigan/Ohio border. We had half an inch the Friday before last, and it had been about 10 days prior to that for the last decent rain. Unfortunately, that half an inch didn't last that long, and to add to the disappointment, they talked for several days about the heavy rains of 2 inches or more we could have. Back in late April, Flint Michigan had about 7 inches in under 3 hours, and it caused major flooding including the need to shut down sections of I-75 and I-69 for up to 24 hours. Either feast or famine. I figured that we would not have the kind of wet year we had last year, when Detroit set a precipitation record, but I was hoping it wouldn't be a drought year, either. But it looks like it will. They claim rain in the night, well, they said rain this morning and we had a few minor, minor sprinkles.

It's getting so damn dry here.....another front fell apart just as it reached our area early this morning. We got a sprinkle. We need about half a foot of rain.

Part of my job is managing prairie plantings around our stormwater ponds, etc. I'm seeing prairie plants shriveling up! They're not supposed to do that. I don't know when I've ever seen it this dry in June. Like you Den, we had record moisture this time last year. That caused issues too, but I'd rather deal with those than the present circumstance of NO moisture.

Tom, how old are your plantings? If they are this year's plantings it would be ideal to supplement with water. If they are older than a year then they have a decent shot at surviving the drought conditions. Those root systems are amazingly capable.

I think the younger plants have a better shot of surviving since its easier to accomodate targeted watering.

Its the established, older plants that I can't water that are going to suffer.

My plants actually look good (alive that is), I'm just burning up my evening after work to water. 3 hours last night to water all the plants I planted this year. Tonight I'll spend 3 hours watering the plants planted last year.

Tom, I looked at the hourly forecast yesterday and it read 90%, 100% and 85% chance of rain over a 3 hour period. Guess what, nothing! I want to shot the person that posts a 100% chance.

The grass is officially scorched and dormant. I haven't seen that before this time of year.

At least the next couple days its going to be 70 degrees with lows in the low 50s...my efforts won't evaporate as quickly then.

Yeah whaas, we've had some of those overly optimistic forecasts lately too!

@ Greenhaven: I was making general comments on the weather. Luckily for me, this is the year I didn't plant much of anything, at least on my own property. Now at work.......that's another story. I have thousands of annuals and perennials out there, just recently planted, living on the tiny cube of peat/perlite they came with (Not having yet had the time to root out into the marvelous soil surrounding them) that had to go from last Thursday until today to get watered. The whole of the weekend and all day yesterday were scorching hot and windy. While my duties preclude any possibility that it would be me personally doing this watering, from what little I was able to peruse, I am if anything, surprised at the basically decent condition of these itty bitty transplants. But again, whether here at home or up at my tree farm, it just so happened that I planted next to nothing this year. For that, I am

I live in NW metro Detroit as well and I am in complete agreement with denninmi. It's crazy, every week I'm praying for rain and we get nothing. :( My poor trees...I may have to start doing rain dances here this week...

A question about watering. I have a drip system that I will always have to use, living in Western Kansas. I am wanting to ask a little advice, if anyone would have any experience with it. Would it be better to water with one long watering during the week, and then supplement the rest of the the week with maybe 2 or 3 days of short watering to keep the moisture content? Or water 2 long ( not quite as long as the the one long) but a good amount of time with one short one in between? I have had a system for over 15 years now and up until my Pinus reflexa Extra Blue have never lost anything. This heat and drought just has me wondering if there is a better system than I had been using.

In MA we had a very mild winter with very little snow and a dry early Spring. Last week we had rain every day and temps here in SE Massachusetts are in the high 40's at night (48 last night at my house).

We are supposed to get temps into the 90s by mid-week. I hope this is a sign that the weather pattern blocking rain for you people in the midwest is changing and you catch a break from the drought you are experiencing.

A big rain front, associated with a cold front, was moving through the area last night. The radar screen was lit up like a Christmas tree in a frontal boundary about 200 miles long. Kansas City was dead center. Heavy rain was to move into the area about 2am. This morning I got up looked outside...nothing...dry as a bone.

I watered all day yesterday even though they forecast rain. My confidence level in these television weather forecasting personalities with all their fancy tools of the trade has reached an all time low.

I should have been a TV weather man. I could have made big money spreading BS every day and not being held accountable for any of it. Kind of reminds me of a place called Washington DC.

Anyway...my complaint of the day. Now I can get into the day enjoying life with that off my chest.

Hardy a drop of rain in 4 weeks here... the grass is straw-brown and dry as a bone. brush fires are starting to pop up - This is as bad as I've ever seen it, and it's only mid-June. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a wet summer - things are starting to suffer, now.

I was sitting right here at my 'puter yesterday afternoon when the strangest thing started happening: Drops of water suddenly began falling from the sky, landing all over the place! Pretty weird. But things quickly reverted to their normal pattern with a grand total of .08 inches of rain falling. Meanwhile, much stronger storms popped up to our east, south, west, basically everywhere but this part of the state. It's getting old.

Now, we're forecast for more rain chances both tonight, tomorrow and tuesday. If I had to guess, I'd say we're probably in for another eight one hundredths of an inch! Meanwhile, temps are forecast to zoom up into the nineties for the next few days. Blahhh.

Was looking at the radar - humongous front line, lit up with red - evaporated as soon as it reached the Indiana border - no rain. A storm went by North of here, could even hear the thunder and see the lightning, but Noooo, no rain. We've had (theoretically - I sure didn't record it) 1/2 inch since May 18. Almost all the grass in the open is tinder-dry.

Well it looks like our nice mild spring is moving back north as summer comes upon us today. But for the first time in years we've had a really good spring. My trees have been very grateful.

Today mid-nineties which is about right for us now this time of year. Rain is beginning to fade from the forecasts but hey, it was one year ago today we set our first of many heat records of 104. So I'll take 93 anytime.

ingeborgdot,
My trees down here in hot dry Z8 get once a week watering during first 2 summers unless we receive 1/2" or more of rain that week.
Brand new transplants - water twice a week for first 6 weeks then once a week per above. In fall and winter watering slacks off to once or twice per month depending on temperature and rainfall.
By third/fourth year I will only water once a month during June - Sept. if we are hotter/dryer than normal(2"/month). Everything in yard (59 trees) all pulled thru last year in good health with over 90 days of 100F+ weather and only 11" rain from Jan - end of Nov.

AccuWeather precipation records from April 1st to June 18 come in at 2.58" for me.

It didn't tabulate what "trace" actually measured out as for several dates. Weather.com has a totally different number, closer to 5". So I'm not sure, although weather.com is reporting rain when it didn't rain on at least two days. Anyone have a certain/reliable source they use for precip. records? I'm in a smaller village so I wonder if the reporting stations are outside the boudaries of my village. Its also tough to track this year because each rainfall has been minute. I think the greaestt 24 hour rainfall in the last month was a staggering 1/2".

I don't know how to keep up anymore with this thing they call a career and a family. Time for the plants to start dealing with mother nature on their own. I have to admit taking a half day of vacation to water for 5 hours just isn't right.

I'm glad June is going to set a record for 90+ degree days to top it off.

After 80 inches of precip in 2011, ' Winter 2012 was mild and dry, leading to a very mild March and April with fire risk. Then the rains came so vegetation doing well. Seeing a few days into the upper 90's with high humidity but drought not a current concern. Still, drought tolerant plants are probably a safer bet in the long run. Weather channel reported today that the Northeastern states (NJ included) have seen the greatest temperature rise in recent years compared to the rest of the country--Southeast saw the lowest rise in temps. Interesting.

We've had over 3 inches in the last 48 hours. Some locations to the north-much more. These have been some heavy, thumpin storms, but not the kind where all that rain falls in just a few minutes. So in other words, ideal. Still hotter than bejeezus though. Now the "ring of fire" has again drifted quite far to the north. We're probably not going to see more thunderstorm activity until maybe this time tomorrow.

^ Haha, I know, right? Well one could travel to the Duluth/Superior area: Upwards of ten inches of rain over the last couple days. That frontal boundary is finally starting to sag down towards us. I hope the precip holds together. Even with our 3 inches +, today was another 90 degree-er with plenty of S. wind. It's already drying up.